Posted: 2/15/2012 6:56:41 AM EDT
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I've been on a juice diet for a couple weeks. Lots of stuff tossed into a bucket. I have plenty leaves and this pulp/cuttoffs, ash that I could use for a starter compost pile. Would it be a viable desert endeavor? Would it be "wise" to start in the winter or wait for warmer weather?
TIA M |
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You can compost in winter. I recommend a composter that rotates as opposed to a pile. It is more efficient and easier. I have four of these and they work awesome:
composter |
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Jack spirko talks about a simple 3 barrel system that he uses. Basically you put all of your organic matter into a barrel, wait x amount of weeks, dump barrel into another barrel. Start filling the origional barrel with organic matter again. When x amount of weeks pass, dump second barrel into the third, first barrel into the second, and start filling the first one again. X amount of weeks pass, and the third barrel has finished compost in it, and repeat the process.
From what I understand, compost retains a lot of moisture, so it will really help your desert situation if you garden. |
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we compost virtually all vegetative matter. potato peels, coffee grounds, cut flowers, leaves, chicken shit, you name it. It is definitely worthwhile.
In order to compost you will need moisture. A desert environment could make that a bit challenging, so augment your pile with a regular dose of water. We compost in winter as well as summer. With everything frozen there is no compost action going on, but it will start as soon as temps warm up. The resulting compost is black gold. Mix compost and your poor soils in a raise bed and all of a sudden you can grow food. If for some reason you do not have access to decent water and have no hope of gardening, then composting is somewhat pointless. |
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Ordered one. Thank you.
M Quoted:
You can compost in winter. I recommend a composter that rotates as opposed to a pile. It is more efficient and easier. I have four of these and they work awesome: composter |
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I have water as long as there is power. I do have lots of wood ash also. Looking forward to seeing the compost Lifetime 80 work work. Thanks guys. M Be mindful with the amount of wood ash as it can make your compost more acidic. ETA: edited for spelling Acidic? Don't you mean alkaline? 
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In your situation, in the desert, composting is prolly a really good idea.
As one poster said, the rotating composters will do the best job, but there's a catch. They're very expensive. Sure, there are inexpensive ones; no argument about that, but the problem with the cheap ones is the pivot. This is the weak link of the rotating composers. The cheap rotators have weak pivots that'll fail very quickly; remember, compost gets REAL HEAVY! So, a good rotator can set you back $300. That's a lot of scratch just to make shit. But in your case, maybe it's worth it if your soils are poor and in need of really serious amending with the least effort. I use a bin type that only cost about $50; on sale down from $75. With the bin types you need a "stirring rod" so that will prolly be another $20. These are tools you push down into the pile and then pull up. Basically, they turn the contents of the bin "inside out". They work very well, especially at first, if the composting material is coarse. It'll only take a half dozen passes to turn the contents of the bin; no time at all. I do it a couple times a month along with my other yard chores. You can compost year around, the process will slow a bit in the winter, that's all. Composting completes in anywhere from a five or six weks to a year depending upon what you are composting so figure if you set up your bin now, you prolly won't have "ready" compost until spring of '13, but in the desert, your mileage may vary. You gotta keep it damp. This means you will have to stick a garden hose in there from time to time. Your compost shouldn't be soggy, but should be sort of like a wrung out sponge; thoroughly damp but not dripping. |
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Quoted: You can compost in winter. I recommend a composter that rotates as opposed to a pile. It is more efficient and easier. I have four of these and they work awesome: composter I picked up this exact model at costco last summer for $99 |
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I have water as long as there is power. I do have lots of wood ash also. Looking forward to seeing the compost Lifetime 80 work work. Thanks guys. M Be mindful with the amount of wood ash as it can make your compost more acidic. ETA: edited for spelling Acidic? Don't you mean alkaline? I stand corrected, yesterday was a very long day. |
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If you have the space and don't want to make a free pile but also don't want to spend the hundred minimum and multiple hundreds in some cases on rotators there is another way to do it. You can just get 4 pallets and wire them together in a square, place them on a flat surface, throw your crap in there and call it a day. I have used this method for years and the beauty of it is the open desig of the pallets make them perfect for allowing air into all parts of your pile and if you decide you want to turn it just take it apart move it and refill it. For me using this method as long as you have enough materials and it stays sufficently moist toy can have a full bin of compost within a few months. There are a few thingas you want to watch out for using this mothod though. For one you want to be careful of what kind fo pallets you are using especially with food crops. Do not use 4 pallets that just came from somewhere like Home Depot with a shipment of roundup and wonder why your plants are not liking your nrew compost. You also want to take care what kind of materials you put in, layering is important meaning using multyiple thin layers of materials when filling your bin so you don't have too m uch of one thing concentrate n a certain in a certain area in your bin and not rot properly. |